Adam Dant’s London Riot Map
When temperatures rise in the city, volatile emotions frequently reach combustion – Londoners take to the streets and lawlessness prevails, as it did last week in Hyde Park. Contributing Artist Adam Dant has mapped this venerable London tradition of summer riots in his elegant cartography of public disturbances in the capital from AD60 until the present day, LONDON ENRAGED. A limited edition of fifty hand-tinted prints is available from TAG Fine Arts.
(Click on this image to enlarge it and study the history of urban turbulence)
A LIST OF THE RIOTS
AD 60 Battle Bridge – alleged current site of King’s Cross station where Boudica’s Revolt resulted in her death
1189 Tower of London – Jews honouring Richard I at the king’s coronation were massacred
1196 St Mary le Bow, Cheapside – William Fitz Osbert AKA ‘William of the Long Beard’s’ sermon against ‘The Rich’ resulted in rioting and his being drawn apart by horses and hanged on a gibbet
1221 Westminster – Riots followed an annual London v Westminster wrestling match
1268 City of London – ‘ A dispute arose between certain members of the craft of the Goldsmiths and certain of the craft of the Tailors ‘
1391 Salisbury Place, Westminster – The Bakers’ Loaf Riots
1517 St Paul’s Cross – Evil Mayday Riots, A Xenophobic speech by Dr Bell prompted subjects of Henry Vlll to riot against foreigners
1668 Moorfields/Shoreditch – ‘The Bawdy House Riots/Messenger Riots ‘Dissenters prevented from private lay worship lay siege to illegal brothels in the East End in protest at the King’s tacit approval of such trade’
1710 Lincoln’s Inn – The Sacheverell Riots : The trial of preacher Henry Sacheverell resulted in riots, the destruction of Daniel Burgesse’s Presbyterian meeting house and the passing of the 1714 Riot Act
1719 Spitalfields Weavers’ Riots – weavers riot and attacked women for wearing Indian clothing
1743 Gin Riots – Rioting against the gin act is fuelled by the consumption of gin
1768 St George’s Field’s, Lambeth – Crowds gathered and rioted in protest against the imprisonment of John Wilkes for criticising the king
1769 The Spitalfields Riots – Weavers Riot over rates of piece-work pay
1780 The Gordon Riots – Lord George Gordon called for the repeal of the Catholic Relief Act of 1778 and a return to the repression of Catholics
1809 The Old Price Riots, New Theatre Covent Garden – Riots caused by rising theatre ticket prices
1816 Spa Fields Riots – Revolutionary Spenceans rioted after a mass meeting in Islington
1830 Hyde Park – Riots for electoral reform resulted in the Duke of Wellington’s carriage being attacked and his installation of iron shutters at Apsley House
1866 Hyde Park – Members of the Reform League riot after it’s suppression
1886 The West End Riots – Rioting followed a protest by the Social Democratic Foundation, Britain’s first socialist political party who agitated against free trade
1887 Trafalgar Sq, Bloody Sunday – Violence erupted between police and demonstrators protesting against unemployment and coercion in Ireland
1907 Battersea Park, The Brown Dog Riots – Rioting started after medical students attempted to destroy an anti-vivisection statue of a dog
1909 The Tottenham Outrage – Deaths and injuries resulted from the fall out of an attempted armed robbery by two Bolsheviks
1911 The Siege (or Battle) of Sidney Street – A violent stand-off occurred between police and the army and two Latvian revolutionaries
1919 The Battle of Bow St – Police clashed with Australian, American and Canadian servicemen after attempting to stop them playing dice outside the YMCA
1932 Hyde Park , National Hunger March Riot – Police confiscates a petition of a million names from The National Unemployed Workers Movement resulting in riots
1936 The Battle of Cable St – East enders rioted against the police who attempted to protect a march by the British Union of Fascists
1958 Notting Hill – Race riots between White British residents and West Indian Immigrants
1968 Grosvenor Sq – Demonstrations against the US war in Vietnam outside the American Embassy turned violent
1974 Red Lion Sq – Disorder followed demonstrations against the National Front by Anti-Fascists
1976 Notting Hill Carnival Riots – Riots occurred after heavy handed policing of pickpockets in the carnival crowd
1977 The Battle of Lewisham – A National Front march from New Cross to Lewisham resulted in riots after violent clashes with Anti-Fascist demonstrators
1979 Southall Riots – A demonstration against a National Front election meeting resulted in violence and the death of Anti-NF activist Blair Peach
1981 Brixton Riots – Riots on ‘Bloody Saturday‘ resulted from antagonism between the police and residents of an area with a high level of socio-economic problems
1985 Brixton Riots – Rioting and fires followed the wrongful shooting by police of Dorothy ‘cherry ‘ Grose
1985 Broadwater Farm Riots – Tensions between local black youth and largely white Metropolitan Police following the shooting of Dorothy Grose turned to rioting after the death of Cynthia Jarrett of a heart attack during a police search
1990 Poll Tax Riots – Rampaging and looting followed a protest against Margaret Thatcher’s Community Charge or ‘Poll Tax’
1995 Brixton Riots – Rioting occurred after a peaceful protest outside Brixton Police station became violent
1996 England v Germany UEFA cup riot, Trafalgar Sq
1999 Carnival Against Capitalism – A battle ensued between mounted police and protestors who had bricked up the LIFFE entrance and set off a nearby fire hydrant to release the lost Walbrook river
2000 Anti-Capitalism Mayday Riot
2001 Anti-Capitalism Mayday Riot
2002 Millwall FC New Den Stadium – Riot between fans of Millwall and fans of Birmingham FC
2009 G20 Summit Protest Riot – Police ‘kettled’ protestors outside the Bank of England which resulted in a riot and the death of innocent newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson
2009 West Ham FC Upton Park – rioting between fans of Millwall FC and West Ham FC
2010 Millbank – Riots followed student protests against increase in tuition fees
2011 Oxford Circus – Protestors demonstrating against government public spending cuts were ‘kettled’ by the police
2011 Tottenham Riots – Riots followed the shooting by police of Mark Duggan and spread from Tottenham across the country
2010 Brick Lane – American Apparel Disturbances, riots followed after customers were prevented from shopping for cut-price clothes
2016 Brick Lane – The ‘Fuck Parade’ rioting followed a ‘Class War’ demonstration against ‘Cereal Killer’ Cafe
Map copyright © Adam Dant
You may also like to take a look at
Argotolis, The Map Of London Slang
Adam Dant’s Map Of The Coffee Houses
The Meeting of the New & Old East End in Redchurch St
Map of the History of Shoreditch
Map of Shoreditch in the Year 3000
Map of Shoreditch as the Globe
Map of the History of Clerkenwell
Map of the Journey to the Heart of the East End
From the death of Boudica to a ‘riot’ about overpriced breakfast cereal, even rioting has become ‘hipsterized’ now, = start the car.
I didn’t realize there were so many riots in London certainly its well documented with a map and unto date too. Date 1189 Jews that honoured Richard I at his coronation were massacred, sad much treachery here. John B
Love this article – especially the snippet about the Gin riots being “fueled by gin”. Laughing….